Automobile door handle



ay 30, 1939- G. c. ALEXANDER 2,160,611

AUTOMOBILE DOOR HANDLE Filed Dec. 5/ 1936 n 'f'ar' exarza'er In Grover"Cf g .6 1 f \W/ Witnesses.-

Patented May 30,1939

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE A y Application December 8, 1986, Serial No.118,991 I 01811118- (01.29%348) This invention relates to improvementsin handles for doors and the like and especially handles forautomobiles.

Heretofore the exterior part of the handle has been a source of weaknessand trouble in certain respects. Forinstance, when the customary handleis forced, as by a burglar applying a sufficient leverage force, itbreaks off at the shank by a twisting action, or the lock may give way,whereupon the door can be released without a key.

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide a simple andinexpensive construction for the outer handle and its connection withthe latchand lock mechanism of the door, so that in normally turning thehandle it will operate the latch of the door as required for use, butwill yield when the door is locked, so as to turn without breaking thehandle or connections should abnormal tuming force be applied to thehandle, as by burglars or other unauthorized persons.

Another object of the invention is to form the outside handle,especially the heel part thereof, so as to preclude marring or injurythereby to any other car when the door, equipped with such a handle, isopened and swung against such other car, as sometimes occurs by accidentor inad-' vertence.

This invention is illustrated by the accompany-- ing drawing in which: wFigure 1 is mainly a plan of the handle equipment of an automobile doorwith certain parts in section and with the adjacent part of-the door ofhandle 2 is made large and is provided with a corresponding chamber 8 inwhich is fitted and secured an annular cushion of rubber 9 adapted toreceive snugly the head of shaft 4. This cushion is of polygonal shapeinteriorly and exteriorly, as 5 for instance, hexagonal so as to engagethe corresponding head 4' of said shaft and the inner face part ofchamber 8.

With this construction, as will be apparent, the rubber cushion 9-yields sufficiently, step-by-step, 10 to permit the turning of thehandle 2 relative to the fixed shaft 4 whenever violent force is appliedto said handle at a time when the door is locked. The cushion 9 ispreferably molded to fit normally as shown in Fig. 2, so that the innercorners willreceive the comers of head 4'. When the handle turns asindicated, the cushion corner It will move from head corner 'I l towardhead corner l2, leaving the lockedshaft 4 stationary. The cushion 9 issecured permanently in chamber 8, as by means of rubber cement.

The inner handle 3 is apertured at l3 to receive the opposite end l4 ofshaft 4, in positively cooperative relation so as to be coturnable atall times, there never being any purpose or need for permitting theinner handle to. turn independently of shaft 4.

abnormal position relative to the operating shaft.

Fig. 4 is a plan, mainly in section, showing a somewhat differentembodiment of the'yielding turn feature of my invention.

Fig. .5 is a handle section on the line 5-5 of Fig. 4.

Referring more in detail to the drawing, the door I is provided with anouter handle-2, inner-- handle 3, and a oonnectingshaft 4', togetherwith a pair of retaining. plates 5 and 6, arranged substantially ascustomary for doors of this sort.

The outer handle is provided with a specialfeature, to permit rotaryyielding thereof relative to the latch control shaft 4 when the latteris locked and sufficient force is applied to said handle 2.

. In order to accommodate this feature. the shank I structure of theheel part so that it .s'ent a relatively soft and yielding surfaceadapted Another feature of the outer handle 2 is the shall preto avoidmarring varnished surfaces and the like,

.as for instance, the exteriors of cars that may be at times positionedor parked adjacent thereto. For this purpose I form the heel part ISwith a special face including a boss l6 of dove-tail char- (acter toreceive a yielding cushion l1, preferably made of rubber, forced intoplace thereon and preferably cemented thereto. Thus it is held in placeboth by its own tension and by the adhesive character of the cement. Forsecuring the mem- 4o bers 9 and H in place, any one of severalcommercial rubber cement products may be used, for instance, one knownas Bovel.

As a result of these improvements, the owner of-a 'car is largelyrelieved of anxiety and fear lest his car may be broken into by forcingthe,

ments sufdcient to enable one skilled in the art to apply suchfeaturesin various specific embodiments. The shaft 4 is shown to besquare in section as customary for rotary handle operated door latchmechanisms.

Referring now especially to the modified constructi'on shown in Fig. 4,the outer handle 2| is composed entirely of a somewhat yielding rubberbody of any desired color to match the car. This body contains areinforcing member 22, for instance a spring steel wire.

The inner end of the shank 23 of this handle 2| is molded non-adhesivelyabout the head 24 of a door bolt 25 coaxial 'with said handle, in suchmanner as to accommodate relative turning under severe and abnormalstress, as in forcing the handle when the door is locked. The head 24 ofthe bolt 25 is preferably hexagonal, and the chamber 26 is ofcorresponding shape.

A metal finish plate 3|, secured by machine screws 32, bears against thehandle shoulder 33 and holds the handle 2| in place on the door 34 nearits free edge 35.

- In order to assure a snug fit and to avoid looseness I place a helicalcompression spring 31 on the. bolt 25 against the inner end 38 of thehandle shank 23, and I secure this spring in place by a centrallyperforated metal cap 40 on shaft 23 where it is secured by a pin ll.

ing a serially'apertured face of resilient yielding materialcooperatively disposed thereagainst to accommodate such turning, saidresilient mate: rial being sufficiently yielding to resume its normalform after such turning. i a

2. A burglar-proof handle comprising a hollow shank lined with resilientyielding material,

. a latch-operating member having a head in gripping engagement withsaid resilient yielding material in turning or non-turning relationdepending upon the degree of resistance opposed to said member when thehandle is turned.

3. An automobile handle device comprising a headed metal shaft incombination with a suitably yielding rubber handle having a shankdisposed coaxially with said shaft with its inner end moldednon-adhesively about the head of said shaft.whereby the shaft and handleare adapted for relative turning yieldably when sufficient force isapplied thereto.

4. An automobile door handle comprising a suitably yielding rubber bodyhaving metallic reinforcing means therein and having the headed end of ashaft imbedded non-adhesively in the end of its shank and projectingcoaxially therefrom.

5. A device of the class described comprising.

a shaft and a handle connected frictionally in lengthwise coaxialalignment for relative turning step-by-step, one of said members havinga serially shouldered'face and the other said member having acorresponding serially apertured resilient yielding face of frictionmaterial cooperatively disposed thereagainst to accommodate suchturning, said faces in general arrangement being substantiallyconcentric, and the yielding member being self restoratively resilient.

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